Raya’s POV
Sleep didn’t come as fast as usual.
Something around me didn’t feel right.
The suffocating silence wrapped around me like a blanket, yet I could breathe. My lungs burned for air that I didn’t need. I was drowning, suffocating beneath an invisible weight, but there was nothing to hold me down. My body ached as if I had been submerged in a cold ocean for too long. But there was no water, no deep abyss—just an emptiness that pressed on my chest.
I felt eyes on me. Heavy, predatory eyes. I couldn’t see them, but I could feel them, dark and knowing, pricking my skin like a thousand unseen needles. My breath quickened, each inhale sharp and shallow. It was as though the weight of centuries was in the gaze that followed me, creeping through my veins, entwining with my blood.
Then
